Check out Johannes Rillo’s Artwork

Today we’d like to introduce you to Johannes Rillo.

Johannes, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
As a photographer, a picture is worth a thousand words. With any action figure that I use, creating images of the subject is easy. I’m passionate about the creative process that goes into that perfect outcome. It’s also important to me to make the scene blend and that manifests into the cinematic feel of my shots. I want people to feel the tone, see surrounding, lighting, depth and above all see what it conveys. With all my pictures, I feel like I capture the cinematic tone of my work. I hope it inspires others to do the same.

We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
My art is Toy Photography. Everyone has their own uniqueness about this art, mine is more Cinematic Toy Photography. My inspiration usually starts from my diorama setups or a custom action figure. I put a lot of time and effort into creating my scene. It develops from there and the ideas just follow. Once I have the environment setup, I basically shoot sample scenes without any figures to test angles, lighting, and depth.

I have various dioramas like Temples, Sci-Fi, Urban Streets, and many others. My dioramas are made by many talented artists on Instagram who’ve developed their craft and really made an impact within the Toy Photography community. What I love to do is layer various dioramas together to make a gigantic scene. It really helps describe the shot and makes the scene more organic.

Movies, TV shows and video games are a great source material, I try to interpret the look and feel it creates. It gives me such joy when people at first glance see my work and can’t distinguish them as toys.

What I hoping people take from this is seeing another type of art form. Many toy photographers in Instagram have branded their style, I think I’ve accomplished that…

I want people to enjoy this art and be inspired. If I’ve entertained someone or if people think it’s a movie/video game that they’re looking at, then I accomplished what I set out to do. Enjoy it, enjoy our awesome community and keep supporting each other.

What do you know now that you wished you had learned earlier?
If you’re passionate about this art take chances and experiment. Don’t worry about perfection, it took time to and patience. For those artists working on their craft, step out of the box and look for inspiration.

As an artist, I wouldn’t change a thing. I needed to make those mistakes early on to understand how to adjust. This led me to my own branding of Cinematic Toy Photography.

Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
You can find me on Instagram, Vero, and EyeEm under my profile ToyRelic. I’ve done various shows here in Phoenix, AZ that was curated by Conception Art and RAW. I’ve sold my art pieces in those forums and also do special request. The best way to support my work is by word of mouth, in this case, publication. Visit and if you like what you see like and follow.

Contact Info:

• Phone: 9086420782
• Email: johannesrillo@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/toyrelic/

Getting in touch: VoyagePhoenix is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.